


If You Leave My Sight

by ottercakes



Series: More than shoulder pads and makeup [1]
Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: Angst, F/F, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29077413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottercakes/pseuds/ottercakes
Summary: TW: Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-conIt’s been three weeks since she last went to a party. Two weeks since she’d last hung out with the group to go shopping or play croquet. One week since she’d last answered any of their calls or even shown up to school.Veronica finally goes to check on Heather Chandler, and nothing could have prepared her for what she found out next.Mostly movie universe--set 3 weeks after the Remington party. AU where Veronica doesn't throw up and Heather makes them leave early.
Relationships: Heather Chandler & Veronica Sawyer, Heather Chandler/Veronica Sawyer
Series: More than shoulder pads and makeup [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162403
Comments: 12
Kudos: 80





	If You Leave My Sight

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first Heathers fic, so any feedback would be lovely. Also, again, there is a trigger warning for implied non-con--nothing super explicit, no deep description or details, but it's discussed throughout. This should probably be okay for those who have seen the movie, as it is referencing what happened between Heather Chandler and David at the Remington party. Also, while this is technically set in the movie universe, I imagine the characters as their musical actors: Barrett Wilbert Weed as Veronica Sawyer and Jessica Keenan Wynn as Heather Chandler. Hope you enjoy :)

The Heathers did not worry about Heather. Chandler, that is. They worried about Veronica when she gazed at the trench coat-clad, gun-toting new kid, Jason Dean, since they knew he couldn’t be good news. They worried about McNamara when she quietly cried at night during sleepovers, thinking the others couldn’t hear, since they’d found a bottle of sleeping pills in her backpack once and silently vowed to never let her leave their sight while upset. They worried about Duke when she disappeared into the bathroom after every meal, fearing that they’d later find her passed out in her own vomit, since they saw the pure loathing in her eyes when she looked in the mirror and the rough calluses on her knuckles from sticking her fingers down her throat so often.

But they did not worry about Chandler. Until they did.

It’d been three weeks since she last went to a party. Two weeks since she’d last hung out with the group to go shopping or play croquet. One week since she’d last answered any of their calls or even shown up to school.

So, yeah, the remaining three girls were getting a bit concerned, and that in itself, was concerning. It was a new sensation, and none of them quite knew how to go about bringing it up. Finally, something in Veronica snapped.

“Fuck it.” Heather and Heather looked up from their lunch trays at her in surprise. “Are we just gonna pretend like Heather fucking Chandler, demon queen of Westerburg, hasn’t been at school for a week? And hasn’t been ignoring our calls, and _us_ in general?”

The other two glanced at each other uncomfortably and gave slight shrugs. Veronica sighed. “Heather, drive me to Heather’s house after school.”

“Veronica, are you...are you sure you want to do this?” It was McNamara. Her voice was timid and concerned.

“I have to. Neither of you are going to, and it isn’t like Heather to disappear like this. Something’s up.” Veronica slammed the door of the green Jeep shut. She thanked Duke for the ride, who gave a huff in reply, and made her way up the winding walkway to the front door.

The grandeur of each of the Heathers’ houses would never cease to amaze Veronica, and the path just to get to the building itself was a long trek. She took a breath before tapping the brass knocker three times on the massive door, and nearly held her breath as she waited. A woman whom she could only assume to be Heather’s mother opened the door, if the strawberry blonde hair, steely eyes, and sharp cheekbones were any indication.

“Can I help you?” she asked in a cold voice that didn’t suggest she was interested in helping Veronica at all. Her eyes wandered down her body, and Veronica felt the familiar apprehensiveness of her clothing being scrutinized by someone with a far larger budget than hers. In a way, it was comforting.

“Yes. I’m here to see Heather?”

The woman tilted her head a little to the side. “I don’t know if she’ll be up to entertaining visitors, in her state.” She said it with a bit of a sneer, and Veronica strangely felt the need to defend Heather, though she didn’t quite know what for.

“I’m her friend.”

The woman sighed. “Very well. If you must see her, she’s up the stairs and down the hall. Second to last door on the right.”

Veronica thanked her as she stepped inside. It was just as she’d expected it to look, with so many red accents that it looked like it was decorated for a Valentine’s Day party. As she made her way up the stairs, she wondered what Heather would say when she saw her. What _she_ would say when she saw _Heather_. Would she be angry with her for coming? She remembered her mother’s comment at the door. What exactly was the “state” that Heather was in?

Walking down the hallway, she stopped in front of a closed white door and knocked thrice.

“Oh, for the last time, fuck _off_ , mom!” was the response.

“It’s me.” There was no answer. Veronica waited with bated breath by the door, her nerves increasing tenfold with each passing moment of silence.

Finally, Heather spoke again. “It’s open.”

Veronica turned the knob and stepped inside. The room was adorned with red detailing, and Heather herself was lying on her bed in a short, red, silk robe. She was facing away from Veronica, and didn’t turn around. “What do you want?” she muttered, but her voice didn’t have the same kind of bite that it usually did--it just sounded tired.

“I...just came here to check on you.” Heather didn’t say anything. “Since you hadn’t been at school for a while and basically just disappeared off the face of the earth, we were just...worried about you.” Veronica gave a weak chuckle and fidgeted with the hem of her blazer, not quite sure what to do with her hands.

Heather finally rolled over to face Veronica and fixed her with a hard gaze. Veronica almost flinched when she saw Heather’s eyes. The greenish orbs were usually filled with fire. Raging, blazing with passion, and burning straight through anything they fixed themselves upon. But now...they were empty. Two vast voids of nothingness, no longer fiery, but...cold. Cold, hard, dead. “We?”

Veronica frowned, knitting her brows together.

“We?” Heather repeated.

“Um--Heather and Heather _were_ worried. But I...wanted to check on you alone.” Veronica hoped she couldn’t hear the nervousness in her voice.

Heather scoffed. “Why? Because you _care_ ? Because you thought I needed help? You think I need your help? Well, I don’t!” Her voice was getting louder as she stood, stalking over to Veronica. “I don’t want your fucking help, Sawyer! _Go home!_ ”

She stopped right in front of Veronica, still glaring at her. “I...I _do_ care...I just wanted to see if you were okay, I was kinda...scared something happened. I was worried,” she repeated. Her voice trembled, and her heart thumped painfully against her ribs so loudly that she was sure Heather could hear it. 

“Oh, yeah? And _why on earth_ was that?” Heather snapped. She sounded sarcastic, and Veronica had the feeling that she was missing something, although she couldn’t begin to understand what.

“Well you...you just _left!_ You weren’t even returning our calls, you stopped going to school, you stopped hanging out with us! And even before, you were just all cold and distant, and I don’t know why! You haven’t gone to a party in forever!” Veronica had begun waving her hands around to show her conviction, and they now flopped at her sides, brushing against her skirt. The stillness felt awkward, and she begged Heather to break the silence.

Heather was still staring at her with a look of contempt and disgust. “I,” she said, “haven’t gone to a party. In forever.” She uttered the words slowly, not breaking eye contact.

Slightly frustrated, Veronica just went on. “Y-yeah! You haven’t been to a party since--”

Veronica felt her stomach tighten with dread, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. “Since Remington.” Heather didn’t move a muscle, but Veronica could’ve sworn she saw her tense at that. “Since Remington,” she repeated. “You wanted to leave early. Right before we got there, you said...you said that there were going to be two you knew there...Brad and David. And then you and David ditched me when I was getting a drink, and then later you wanted to leave.” Veronica stood there for what felt like an eternity in silence, waiting for Heather to respond. Her mind raced, trying to come up with what on earth happened that had caused Heather’s weeks of absence from any party since. Finally, the other girl spoke.

“You had one job, Sawyer.” It was quiet, but Veronica heard it loud and clear. Heather had turned away from her, but now she turned back and fixed Veronica with that cold, empty glare once more. “You had one fucking job.”

Veronica just stared at her, bewildered. She knitted her brows together, racking her brain to understand just what Heather meant by that. “I--what?” she mumbled, even more confused than she was before.

“You had one job. I told you to do one fucking thing, and you failed.”

Veronica’s jaw moved up and down silently as she tried to find the words to explain her confusion. “I--uh, you...you told me to...um…” she managed to stammer. “You told me…” She fell silent again. What did Heather tell her to do? She squeezed her eyes shut, going back to that night, as they were stepping out of Heather’s cherry red Porsche. “To...oh!” Veronica brightened as she remembered what it was that Heather kept repeating. “To not leave your sight. You said...you said, ‘Sawyer, stay next to me and if you leave my sight, I’ll fucking gut you with a goddamn chainsaw, you hear me?’” Unable to contain herself, Veronica let out a burst of laughter at what she thought was a spot-on impression of Heather’s voice, but she sobered up immediately when she saw Heather’s face.

Heather’s skin looked even paler than usual, and her jaw was clenched. She took in a deep, ragged breath, and looked Veronica in the eye. “You had _one_ job,” she repeated.

Veronica furrowed her brow. “Yeah, _I_ wasn’t the one who went off to hook up with some stupid frat boy!” She scoffed. “Honestly, Heather, you drag me to a party, just _me_ , Heather and Heather aren’t even there, and then you disappear with some random dude--I mean, come _on,_ you ditch me for that guy? I _don’t_ understand how you could stomach five seconds around his ass, much less want to _fuck_ him--”

Oh.

Oh.

_Oh._

Veronica sucked in a breath. “You--oh. Oh...oh my god. Oh my god, Heather, I _oh my god._ I--I--I’m so sorry, I’m a fucking idiot, I should’ve--” she drew in a shuddering inhale, and suddenly felt incredibly sick. She pressed her hands over her mouth, taking shallow breaths through her nose.

Swallowing, she finally went on. “You...you meant to tell me...to not let _you_ out of _my_ sight,” she managed to whisper. 

Heather was still staring deep into her eyes, but her gaze faltered and her jaw trembled ever so slightly. She looked away and huffed. “It's fine, it's just...whatever. It's not..." she trailed off.

“No. No, Heather, not ‘ _whatever_ ’! How--Heather. I...I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” she whispered. Fucking hell. God, she was a fucking moron. Her gut twisted at the thought of--no. She wasn’t going to imagine it. She wasn’t going to imagine what Heather must’ve been feeling as they drove up to the house, as they walked up the steps, as she told Veronica over and over, _begged_ Veronica over and over to keep her safe, stay with her, as she saw his face, as he took her away…

“ _Whatever,_ Sawyer.” Heather’s voice was clipped and slightly lower than usual. Most wouldn’t have noticed it, but Veronica noticed. That was not how Heather Chandler spoke. Veronica watched her, almost in awe, as she went back to sit on the bed. She was trying not to cry.

Seeing the girl, robed in her bedroom, showing signs of emotion other than contempt or anger, was like watching her stark naked. Veronica bit her lip and nervously took a seat on the bed as well. There was about a foot of space between them, and Veronica wasn’t sure whether she should move closer or farther away. She decided on just staying where she was. “Heather, no that isn’t...that isn’t okay,” she murmured softly.

Heather scoffed. “Don’t fucking tell me what is or isn’t okay. If you want to fuck with the eagles, you have to learn to fly. It’s how it works, Sawyer.” Her voice was bitter.

“Well, it shouldn’t be!”

“I don’t get why this is such a big deal to you, just drop it!” Heather snapped.

Veronica widened her eyes in disbelief. “‘Why this is such a big deal to me’--Heather, you’ve apparently spent the past week in your room--”

“I already have a mom breathing down my neck, Veronica, I don’t need another one!”

“That’s not what I’m doing, Heather, I’m just saying that what happened clearly had an effect on you, and I just want to help--”

“I don’t need your help! I don’t know why you think I can’t take care of myself, what happened wasn’t that big a deal and I’ll come back to school next week, can you just--”

“‘Wasn’t that big a deal’? Heather, it was obviously a big deal, how can you say--”

“God, if I knew you were going to be all weird about this I would’ve never said anything--”

“HE FUCKING RAPED YOU, HEATHER.”

The other girl fell silent. Her greyish green eyes were filled with shock, and she just stared at Veronica for a long while. “Get out.”

“No, Heather, I--I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have--”

“Get. Out.”

Veronica scoffed. “God, Heather, _please_ face the reality! What he did wasn’t--”

“The ‘ _reality’?_ What do you know about ‘ _reality’?_ It wasn’t _him_ , Sawyer, it’s _me,_ _I_ make the choice, _I_ choose to do it, every time it’s _me_ , it’s _MY_ fault!”

Veronica looked at her in shock. “Heather, no. No, no, no, it’s not _your_ fault. How could it be _your_ fault--”

“ _I_ chose to do it, Veronica! I didn’t have to, and I did anyway! He didn’t like...I don’t know, drug me or beat me up in an alley or something, it was my _choice_ \--”

“Did you want to.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Veronica knew the answer.

Heather rolled her eyes. “Well--well, no, but--”

“Did you try to stop him? Tell him ‘no’?”

“Well...I guess, but I didn’t try that hard, I just said we should--”

“Did you give him your consent?”

Heather sat silently for a moment again. “I...I did it. I chose to do it,” was her only response.

“That’s not what I asked.”

Heather pressed her lips together and looked down. “I chose to do it,” she whispered. “I chose to, I chose to, it was my choice, my fault…” she looked up at Veronica with glassy eyes.

Veronica shook her head. “Heather, listen to me. This was _not_ your fault. Okay? This was _not_ your fault. Don’t defend assholes like him. Don’t take the blame when you’re the victim. Alright? Never, ever, _ever_ blame yourself for...something like this.” She had a feeling that this was not the first time that ‘something like this’ had happened

Heather’s mouth twitched and she gave a tiny shrug. A tear dropped silently into her lap. “Ronnie?”

Veronica looked at her in surprise. Heather never used that nickname for her. She raised her eyebrows. “Hmm?”

“Stay?” Heather shrugged again, looking away. “Just to...I don’t know, distract me or whatever.” Then she quickly added, “You don’t have to, you could go if you want, but...” She trailed off, rubbing the fabric of her robe between her fingers.

Veronica reached over and gently took one of Heather’s hands, twining their fingers together. “I’ll stay as long as you want me. All you have to do is ask me.” She paused for a moment and added, “And from now on, I’m going to listen a lot better. Promise.”

Heather nodded and gave a small smile. “Thanks.” She scooted closer to Veronica and laid her head on the taller girl’s shoulder, sighing contentedly.

Veronica grinned and rested her head on Heather’s. “Never knew the demon queen of Westerburg was so cuddly.”

“I’ll kill you in your sleep, Sawyer.”

“I’m sure you will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaand that's the end! Again, feedback is much appreciated. I read and respond to every comment, and as this is my first Heathers fic, I'd love to hear any thoughts. Also, I know that this is a really sensitive and important subject, so if anyone would like to correct me on anything or suggest something, I'd be super grateful. I just wanted to expand a little on what happened to Heather at Remington--that scene where she spits at her reflection in the mirror always gives me chills. Anyways, I wasn't too happy with the end, honestly...I might revise this a bit later on, but we'll see. Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day :)


End file.
